Final Atonement
by AvatarofDeath13
Summary: This is it, I only have one chance to do this, and if it fails... Zorc destroys everything. I'm sorry everyone, for every single thing that I've done wrong, but I intend to pay for my crimes... and I intend to destroy you Zorc! I am: Seto Kaiba!


XOXOXOXOXOHOXOXOXOXOX

Hello everyone, it's me: your favorite AvatarofDeath13 [ironic, seeing as I'm the only one, as far as anything goes], here to leave you with something I didn't originally think that I was every going to give a try: doing one-shot stories.

I mean, I see myself as the guy whom writes stories so friggin long that they make most fanfics look like a short story barely a page long, not the many one-shots that don't really go anywhere, yet here I am, doing my first one.

This one-shot story focuses on a favorite Yugioh character of mine: Seto Kaiba, the wielder of the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons and the antihero of the show that is always dragged into Yugi's dilemmas and situations, and more often than note ends up becoming a key portion in the success and survival of Yugi and his friends in their ventures.

This one-shot in particular is the amalgamation [yes it's a big word, it's one of my favorite big words to use, so look it up!] of playing Yugioh games, and at the same time watching clips of the Majin Buu Saga of Dragonball Z, in particular the scenes concerning Majin Vegeta's speeches and then the epic Majin Vegeta vs. Majin Buu clash.

Call this story whatever you want, I just wrote it up at the top of my head because I was in the mood, and the only reason I even uploaded it onto my account was because I figured I might as well get some appraisal for writing this piece.

There are no defined pairings, because if you had read the title and summary, and learned how to make an assumption while going to school, then you could tell that Kaiba dies in this one-shot, however he dies in a suicidal attack on the main bad guy, in the same manner that Majin Vegeta blew himself up to attempt to save the earth from Majin Buu before he could truly become a menace.

There is a unnamed person that Seto constantly refers to, which you morons that love to ship someone with Seto can use as an opportunity to delude yourself into believing that it's [Insert Female Character Name Here] that Seto refers to in his last few moments. I will not name who it is, except that obviously it's a female, so no… it's not Joey in disguise, you friggin Yaoi Fangirls…

That I did for kicks, but if you don't like it, too bad…

Anyways, have fun reading it, I enjoyed every second of writing this story.

XOXOXOXOXOHOXOXOXOXOX

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, nor the characters of Yugioh, and I deny any right to that which is the property of the Yugioh anime/manga/trading card game, they are the properties of their respective owners/creators, and I claim nothing other than the usage of the words in this story that are not copyrighted in the order that pertains to this story.

Private Disclaimer: Eh? You want a disclaimer? Sorry, fresh out of them. That weird fellow with the ferret and the scythe and the t-shirt that said, "Yaoi Fangirls Will Doom the World!" bought the last one. Try coming back tomorrow, we're having a sale on catchphrases!

[Note: I recommend you listen to the song Reise Reise, from the album with the same aforementioned name, made by the German Rock group Rammstein. Not only do they kick ass, but listening to the song was what inspired me to write this story, and it fit's the story's emotions. Don't worry about the song's lyrics or their meanings, the suggestion is meant to serve as background music!]

Additional Disclaimer: I don't own Rammstein, nor anything associated with Rammstein, and I deny any right to that which is the property of the band and it's albums, they are the properties of their respective owners/creators, and I claim nothing other than the usage of the words in this story that are not copyrighted in the order that pertains to this story.

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"So this is it. So this is how it ends…"

The grave words of the teenage CEO of the gaming company, one Seto Kaiba, echoed in his mind as he stood helplessly as the dark being known as Zorc Necrophades somehow managed to defeat the incredible might of the fused being Horakhty, whom almost everyone had believed would have finished off the evil entity responsible for creating the Shadow Realm, and was now only moments away from annihilating Egypt and then the rest of the world.

"Zorc defeated Horakhty? How are we supposed to defeat him?"

Even at this very moment, Seto realized just how foolish he was, he had denied what was right in front of him ever since he became involved with Yugi and his friends in their multiple adventures: that there were supernatural forces influencing the world, and that he was a written portion of destiny's plan. Every time he had been presented with the proof that there were forces at work that would not be explained by any textbook or internet article, that magic did exist and that monsters were in fact as real as the air he breathed.

"Pharaoh! Please get up! You have to stop Zorc!"

If only he had listened to Yugi when he first brought up the topic of magic, maybe this all wouldn't be happening, maybe he might have turned out a little differently, maybe he might have even come to accept Yugi as something more than a rival… maybe even a friend.

"Zorc is going to destroy our Kingdom! Isn't there anything we can do to stop him?"

The fault, in Kaiba's eyes, laid solely with him: every time Yugi and his friends tried to do the right thing, and all he ever did was either deny it or ignore their words and their actions, at best he inadvertently helped them in their quests, like how he had proved essential in Yugi's obtaining the three Egyptian God Cards when he hosted the Battle City Tournament; but there were times when he did the exact opposite and only added to the trouble, like when he had refused to help them during the Orichalchos dilemma just because he refused to do anything for Yugi and his friends after he learned that the man known as Raphael had managed to beat Yugi which he had claimed to be his right alone.

And let's not forget the many actions or inactions that Seto Kaiba had committed against Yugi and his friends: stealing and tearing the prized Blue-Eyes White Dragon of Solomon Mouto, before dueling him and leaving him in critical condition; leaving his little brother Mokuba in a state of depression, only for him to be snatched up by Pegasus and his cronies; dueling Joey and later Yugi into humiliation with his prototype duel disk, and nearly breaking the spirit and will of the latter; and that only covered his actions during the whole issue concerning Duelist Kingdom .

For Seto Kaiba, his list of crimes against Yugi and his friends, against everyone… was incalculable.

The vehement voice of Zorc resounded as he arrogantly explained his victory, "Foolish Pharaoh! Even if you summon Horakhty, you can't kill me because Horakhty is a spiritual monster created from your energies! And no matter how benevolent you are, you life force still has a dark attribute! Why did you think that I was able to defeat you when you fused with that three-headed dragon?"

The stunning realization seemed to slap the faces of all those whom were witness to Zorc's explanation, and it made unfortunate sense, as the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon that Seto had brought forth had managed to have an even match with Zorc, and that was because it was created from Kaiba's life force, which - despite how dark in personality or behavior he could claim to be - bore an attribute to light. And when Yugi in the form of Black Luster Soldier fused with Kaiba's dragon to become Master Dragon Knight, Yugi's dark attribute made the resulting beast no longer a creature of pure light, thus allowing Zorc to overpower it.

It was made completely obvious: the Pharaoh would never be able to defeat Zorc, because he did not have pure light as his life force's attribute… And then that thought spurned Kaiba into doing something drastic and reckless, something that only Yugi or his friends might have done.

'It's crazy and there's only a small chance that it might work, and I doubt I'll survive if this does work… but this is my chance to redeem myself, to correct each and every past mistake I have made, and either way I die… so at least I can die knowing I did what I could to save the world… I just hope Mokuba doesn't die from heartbreak… I doubt he'll forgive me for doing this… I bet she won't either, but that's Seto Kaiba for you…'

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"Yugi…"

If one were Yugi Mouto right now, they would have been more than confused as to why he was being approached by his long-time rival and pseudo-ally Seto Kaiba, but then again… compared to the fact that he, all of his friends, and the entire world was going to be destroyed by the giant hands of Zorc, Kaiba coming to have a chat with him should have been expected, if not less surprising.

But there was no way that Yugi could have prepared himself to hear the next words from Kaiba's mouth, as he gave Yugi a sincerely apologetic look, and stated, "It may seem like the worst time to say it, but… I'm sorry."

At the look of sheer of disbelief that was Yugi's response to his statement, which was shared by his equally skeptical friends, Kaiba honestly stated, "You were right. You were right all along, fro the very beginning when we first met and you tried to introduce me into the world of magic, you were telling the truth."

Taking a moment to sigh and let it sink in, Kaiba continued his apology and explained, "But I, being the arrogant fool I was, decided to deny your words in favor of ignorance, because deep down… I didn't want to accept that my destiny was preordained, that every single thing I hated in my life was planed, that my free will was merely a joke of the Gods and that I was a mere slave to destiny and a prophecy dating back five-thousand years.

Seemingly surprised that they hadn't just flat-out denied that he was lying or that he was merely saying this because they were all about to die, now strained for time began to say what he truly needed to say, "I don't expect you to forgive me because of one apology, but I intend to atone for my actions. So I need to ask you one last favor, Yugi."

Waiting to be denied, expecting to have the short boy with exotic hair, Kaiba was still somewhat surprised that Yugi merrily… or at least what counted as merry in a hopelessly bleak time as now, replied, "Sure Kaiba. Supposing that I can do it before we're all destroyed, what is it you want me to do?"

Instead of a response, Kaiba reached for his duel disk and pulled out his deck, and then glanced at it for a second, as if somehow realizing something humorous and ironic, before motioning the deck to Yugi and saying, "I want you to give this to Mokuba."

Yugi, whom was too dumbstruck to make an actual reply, had his question made for him by his best friend Joey Wheeler, as he shouted obnoxiously, "What do you think you're doing, Kaiba? That's your deck! And why are you talking like that? You going somewhere?"

In response to that question, Tristan Taylor and Yugi and Joey's loyal companion, answered that question with his own, "Forget that! How do you expect us to give it to your little brother, seeing as we're all going to die really soon? It's not like we can just stop Zorc! You heard the monster: only someone with a life force of pure light can put Zorc down."

Unsurprisingly to Kaiba, it was the female member of their quartet that realized, upon hearing Tristan's words, knew just exactly what Kaiba intended to do, and her response shocked everyone, Kaiba included: she ran up to him and grabbed his shirt in a desperate need, and screamed out to him as tears began to present themselves in her eyes, "No! I refuse to let you do it!"

The questioning looks became filled with surprise and denial when Tea yelled out exactly why Kaiba planned on doing, "You can't sacrifice yourself to stop Zorc!"

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"What? That's crazy… no, it's completely insane! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I knew you weren't exactly right in the head, Kaiba… but even I have to say that, and excuse me for being a hypocrite, you're an idiot for even thinking that might work!"

"Kaiba, I know that you want to make up for the bad things you have done, but sacrificing your life?"

"Forget that, how would Kaiba's plan even work?"

"I see…"

The last statement made by the newly revealed Atem threatened to send Yugi and his friends into a fit of hyperventilation, as he explained, "Zorc said that only pure light could hope to defeat him, and thus far the results of our fight against him prove his statement true. Kaiba has been the only one to actually deal any significant damage to Zorc with his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and as much as I hate to say it… Kaiba is the only one that does stand a chance against Zorc if even Horakhty cannot stop him."

Already predicting the glance that he was receiving from everyone, wondering whether he was actually serious with his plan, with his words to them eliminated all doubts of his conviction, "Yu… Atem, you know it as well as I do, that this is the only way. And if sacrificing myself is the only way to save the world, my little brother, all of you…"

'…and her, as well…', Kaiba sadly thought to himself.

"…then so be it."

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"Hm? The mortals are retreating? Have they finally come to realize that there is nothing they can do to stop me?", Zorc chuckled to himself on that thought, as he had narrowly avoided being beaten for good by Horakhty, but luckily he ha managed to enable himself to survive by leeching off the dark nature of the Pharaoh's life force that made the manifestation of Horakhty possible.

It was really too easy how he had managed to best all newcomers, in fact not even facing the Pharaoh did Zorc truly panic, no… that right unfortunately belonged to that infernal mortal wearing the white leather duster, the one whom had summoned that blasted dragon of pure light, as Zorc's claim held true… luckily the Pharaoh in all his 'brilliance' had managed to fuse with the dragon of light, making it possible to Zorc to gain the upper hand.

'And with that dragon light out of the picture, there isn't a single being out there who can stop me!'

That thought was suddenly interrupted when, upon noticing that even though all the people were fleeing from him, there still remained a lone figure on the battlefield, whom simply stared with misplaced confidence at Zorc, which drew a growl or contempt from the being of darkness.

'It's him… the one whom summoned the dragon of light. But what does he intend to do?'

After realizing that he had beaten the creature that the man had commanded, he began laughing at what looked like a pathetic attempt of a last stand, Zorc bellowed in laughter as he made clear what he though of his 'opponent', "Fool! Do you have a death wish? I bested your strongest beast, you have no creature of pure light with which to damage me! What can you do that all of the others, what the Pharaoh and Horakhty failed to do? But I'll humor you, prepare to suffer eternal darkness and despair!"

To his utter surprise, the look of confidence on the face of the mortal did not change, but something within the expression of the mortal set him off, as it made no sense for him to suddenly look as if he had attained some form of enlightenment, as if he could actually defeat Zorc.

"Hehehe… I think I finally understand you… let's go!"

And with that, to Zorc's surprise, the brown-haired mortal suddenly rose his fist as he was slowly encompassed in a swirling aura reminiscent of a white flame that seemed to only grow in size and then condense, as the spiritual manifestation of a monster slowly began to appear before Zorc's very eyes…

And for reasons he couldn't explain, Zorc felt as if terror was finally reaching it's end…

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'This is it! Behold my monster spirit: the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon!'

As Kaiba stood before Zorc, the image of the monster behind him finally made itself known, and it's power was so radiant that the newly-created monster glowed with a glowing white aura, the ultimate manifestation of light and Kaiba's trump card against the supreme darkness of Zorc.

Secretly frightened, Zorc put up a façade of self-assurance and arrogance as he mocked the elder Kaiba brother's attempt to stop him, "Your monster is powerful, but not much more powerful that your last dragon. So how do you intend to defeat me? Are you going to use it as nightlight? Or do you intend to ride on it and run away like a coward?"

If Seto were deterred by Zorc's declaration of confidence, he didn't show it as the flames began to slowly envelop him and began to lift him, until strangely enough the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon seemed to disappear into a white wind that began to surround Seto, at which point the made it quite clear that he was ready to do whatever it is he intended to do…

"You are a fool Zorc! I'm going to incinerate you, and scatter your ashes into the wind!"

Even as Seto spoke something strange seemed to happen to him, as slowly but surely small specks of light reminiscent of dust stated to rise from Kaiba's body, like he was slowly being eroded away by his own energy, and to his horror the being of darkness observed the same happening to himself, and with a sudden realization… Zorc Necrophades understood exactly what Seto Kaiba intended to do…

Seto Kaiba… was going to blow himself to smithereens…

And he would be taking Zorc along for the ride…

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Sneering at the look of fear on Zorc's, Seto Kaiba began to the countdown for his last resort: his Absolute Shining Nova, which would allow him to convert all his life force and energy into this attack of pure light, named after the sacrificial power that the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon possessed, the result of which would be so destructive, that Zorc would be completely vaporized, thus ridding the world of his evil once and for all. With him gone, Yugi and his friends could begin their lives anew, and he could make up for all the wrongs he had done…

And in his last few moments, Seto thought about the people that mattered most to him, the individuals that helped to shape his life for better or for worse, and for each he had a parting message to deliver.

Mom and Dad, I don't know where you are right now, I don't know if you've been watching what I've been doing, and I don't know if you believe I did a good enough job raising Mokuba, but I hope nevertheless that you're proud of me…

Gozaburo, you might have been a complete jackass, but if it weren't for you I wouldn't be half the man I am now, and even if you hate me and I hate you, it's the company that you created that will ensure Mokuba lives a happy life, so for that… you have my gratitude.

Noah, I might not have known you for long, but like Mokuba said… we're family, and even after all the shit you pout us through, in the end you did come through and you sacrificed yourself for our sakes… I guess I have to credit you for the inspiration of this plan…

Joey, there's not much I can say to you, I'm really only familiar with you and Yugi and I doubt I deserve address them, but could you pass me a message to them? I think they'll understand: don't let him become too overprotective of his sister, she needs to grow up eventually…

Mokuba, I don't think I could say a fifth of what I want to say to you in the time allotted, but I hope that, deep down, even if you hate me for leaving you alone like this, that you still know that I love you, and that will never change.

Yugi, I have no idea what to say to you. It's thanks to you that we got into this situation, but if it weren't for you, I would still be drowning in boredom in my office in Kaibacorp. Maybe it truly was fated that we meet and duel, maybe we're destined to face each other till time itself ends, who knows? But regardless, make sure you watch your friends… they need you more than you could ever possibly understand.

And then there's you, do you know that even after everything that has happened, I've still been thinking of you, that you're the last person I think of right before I die? I wonder if things might have been different, that we might have had a future… but it doesn't matter, I know you'll find someone to make you happy… and I'm sorry I couldn't be that guy… but I'd do this a thousand times over if it meant you get to live…

Sayonara…

With the parting thoughts he wanted to issue made, Seto initiated the chain reaction that would set off his demise and bring the seemingly invincible Zorc crashing to his knees. The white flames had become a blinding inferno that surrounded Seto as his very skin began to peel and crack, with light bursting out of every single opening that made it's way through Kaiba's skin, and with lightning crackling around him, the instrument of Zorc's destruction was at hand, and his last words were but two…

"Bite me!"

"NO!"

At that moment, Kaiba screamed out to the heavens and hells, as he finally released all the pent-up energy created from his very life force, which burst forth from his person in a dome of pure light that swallowed Zorc whole, and instantly eradicated every single inch of his being until he was no more. The blast itself was so bright that it could have been seen from distant space itself, like the indescribable last moments of a star as it went supernovae, except this blast was composed of pure unadulterated light, and for the next minute the world became completely silent, and each and every person who witnessed his sacrifice honored him with all they could...

For Seto Kaiba, died not in vain…

No, Seto Kaiba died, for those he loved…

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Okays, I hope people enjoyed reading this piece as much as I enjoyed writing it, but if you have some issues with this story, then tough luck because I doubt I'm going to change or remove it because you think you could do better. If you can do better don't convince me to get rid of mine, make your own and put your money where your mouth is!

Hm… I might consider adding a second part, the final epilogue for this story, to make it a two-shot…

Decisions, decisions…

Anyways…

**AvatarofDeath13, over and out!**


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